Lawsuit Alleges Beaufort County, South Carolina Teachers Not Paid Enough for Simultaneous In-Person and Virtual Instruction

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A proposed class action claims that South Carolina’s Beaufort County School District has breached its contracts with teachers by failing to pay them at the promised rate for providing “dual modality” instruction amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 12-page case says that although the school district’s salary and stipend schedules mandate that the rate of pay for dual modality instruction, i.e., simultaneous in-person and virtual instruction, be $27.87 per hour, the Beaufort County Board of Education has adopted a proposal to pay teachers only $1,000 for dual modality instruction for the first semester of the 2021-2022 school year.

According to the suit, this decision breaches the defendant’s contract with teachers and will cause them to lose “clearly ascertainable amounts of money.”

Per the lawsuit, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster on April 23, 2021 signed a new law stipulating that if a school district determines that dual modality instruction is necessary, it must pay teachers additional compensation. Moreover, the Beaufort County School District revised its salary schedule in August 2021 to specify that certified staff who provide direct student instruction beyond their normal work schedule at the school’s or district’s request will be paid $27.87 per hour for the extra duties, the lawsuit relays.

The complaint argues that dual modality instruction qualifies as additional direct instruction performed at the request of the district and should thus be paid at the specified rate of $27.87 per hour. The Beaufort County Board of Education’s decision to pay teachers only $1,000 for dual modality instruction during the first semester of the 2021-2022 school year therefore violates the terms of teachers’ contracts, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the complaint, Beaufort County School District has received more than $61.5 million in additional Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds from the federal government amid the pandemic.

The case, which was initially filed in the Beaufort County Court of Common Pleas before being removed to South Carolina District Court on February 8, looks to cover anyone employed as certified staff by the Beaufort County School District and who has been required to deliver simultaneous in-person and virtual direct instruction during the 2021-2022 school year.

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